Letter to GPs and other Service Providers Dear Further strike action by members of the New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Assoc (NZRDA) – junior doctors for 5-days from Monday 29 April to Saturday 4 May NZRDA members will again be withdrawing their labour for 5 days from 8am Monday 29 April to 8am Saturday 4 May. This notice affects all DHBs in New Zealand, except Canterbury DHB. As you will be aware the BOPDHB has been engaged in contingency planning to reduce the effects of the strike action. As we do not have the option of moving patients to nearby hospitals, and while doing our utmost to ensure patient safety, unfortunately we need to once again defer surgical lists and outpatients’ clinics. As a result of these actions you will be seeing the impact of our contingency planning on your patients. If patients contact you voicing their concerns about having had their appointments or operations deferred, can you please reassure them that the DHB is working to make new appointments for them. If you have reassessed a patient and feel the urgency for an appointment with us has changed in any way, please re-refer your patient as you would normally do so. We would be grateful if you could share this information with your colleagues as appropriate. It’s important that throughout this period of industrial action, our patients remain well informed and reassured that their appointments are being rescheduled as a matter of priority.
Services which remain open: Emergency Departments Acute Operating Theatres (Tauranga and Whakatāne) Assessment Planning Unit, APU (Tauranga) Intensive Care Unit/CCU/HDU (Tauranga), Acute Care Unit (Whakatāne) All Wards (Tauranga and Whakatāne) Maternity Units (Tauranga and Whakatāne) Special Care Baby Units (Tauranga and Whakatāne) Mental Health and Addiction Inpatients' Wards Public Health Services (Toi Te Ora) Renal Dialysis Unit (Tauranga) Clinical Physiology Outpatients Rehabilitation (Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry etc.) Acute endoscopies Imaging Departments. During the strike action can you please refer only patients that clearly demand immediate hospital intervention or treatment. We appreciate your co-operation through this difficult period.